This article is part of the 2025 World Petrochemical Conference (WPC) series, in which we will explore the key themes of the 40th World Petrochemical Conference.

AVN company CEO Steven Hedrick said on March 20 that the price of recycled plastic is not expected to be "exactly the same as virgin materials," but it will "reach an affordable level."

This statement was made by Hirdrick during an interview with Platts, a division of S&P Global Commodity Insights, at the World Petrochemical Conference held in Houston.

Hedrick pointed out that recycled plastics involve "additional processing steps and stages," and the entire value chain should recognize this.

In addition to raising awareness, although many companies worldwide are striving to achieve goals for the use of recycled materials, it is reported that there is an insufficient collection of raw materials in the recycling industry across multiple regions globally, which further exacerbates cost pressures.

regulatory aspects

In some regions, market participants point out that the implementation of regulatory measures may benefit the market, such as stipulating the minimum amount of recycled materials that companies must use.

However, Hendrick believes that this approach alone is not an effective solution. He stated: "Blind legislation often damages the entire industry process," and advocates for collaboration within the industry throughout this process.
He also said: "The industry and the government working together on publicity efforts, to let the government understand how to better promote the development of the industry, is much better than the government imposing mandatory regulations."

supply cannot meet demand

Hedrick believes that demand will remain strong and mentioned the importance of changes in consumer behavior. "Whether it's paying attention to the amount of recycled material shown on packaging or actively participating in personal material recycling, these all reflect such changes."

However, he also acknowledges that the current collection volume of recycled materials is still not sufficient to meet the expected growth in demand. "Do we have enough infrastructure to meet the demand? Absolutely not."

Given this, and when discussing regional differences, he cited positive examples of progress in material collection made by Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Germany. He said, "Other developed countries still have a lot of work to do to get this right."

As for emerging countries, he pointed out that due to structural issues, "the work to be done is extremely arduous." "These countries face difficulties in providing clean water to their people, while we are discussing plastic recycling, which presents a contradiction."

He compared the situation in emerging countries with the relevant processes in other countries such as the United States. "It would be much easier if this was done from the beginning. But it is much more difficult if, as the US is accustomed to, it is done after the fact."